Asked how she would celebrate, Nicola replied: “I just want to go to Nando’s
for a nice meal — chicken pitta medium with chips — and a few drinks.”

The tough-girl fighter also admitted she struggled to hold back tears during
the national anthem, before her trademark beaming smile returned. Watched by
VIPs including the Duchess of Cambridge, the Princess Royal and Sir Steve
Redgrave, Nicola effectively won her final bout with a crunching left-handed
punch that sent her opponent crashing to the canvas.

She said: “I didn’t see that one coming — it just happened.”

Former world heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis went online to congratulate
Nicola.

Amir Khan, a silver medallist in 2004 before turning pro, said: “Nicola put in
a great performance. She has a very bright future in front of her.” Proud
mum Dee, 52, promised Olympic gold wouldn’t change Nicola. She said: “It’s
been really tough for her at times. At one point she just wasn’t getting the
sponsorship.

“I thought, ‘She’s doing this for her country and she isn’t getting the
recognition she deserves’. But now she has made history. It is amazing. I am
just so proud of her.”

Dee added: “Nothing changes though, she’ll leave that medal at the door when
she comes home.

“She’ll drop the bag before putting her face straight in the fridge and
complaining that someone has been in her room.” Nicola started boxing aged
12 when she accompanied her mum and brother Kurtis to a keep-fit class at a
local gym. Her rise to Olympic stardom has taken more than a decade after
she was named as the first female boxer to represent Britain in 2001.

But she almost gave up the sport due to lack of funding before Olympic chiefs
recognised women’s boxing in 2009.

Nicola worked on a building site — and took roles as an extra on Coronation
Street and Emmerdale — in order to keep her boxing dream alive. Now she’s
hoping her success might lead to better acting parts. She said: “It would be
cool doing more acting, I really used to like doing it.

“Maybe I’ll get bigger parts now. Rocky, the female version — that would be
cool!”

Nicola, whose career was also threatened by a serious back injury in 2009, now
hopes to inspire others. She said: “If girls come into boxing because of
what I have done, it would be the same as winning gold.”

Nicola also said the sell-out crowds in London have silenced the critics of
women’s boxing. She added: “I cannot believe the support women’s boxing has
had, and how much the British public have got behind it.”

Fans are hoping Nicola’s triumph will also launch another gold rush for Team
GB.

– ATHLETES have performed better at this Olympics because of the
British RAIN, scientists claim. The air has been cleaner because low
pressure meant pollution was less able to settle over London, experts from
the University of Manchester and the Met Office have found. They said that
it has been the least polluted Games in modern history.